I think you're losing sight of the real issue. Orgs linked to the Kremlin are known to have targeted Americans online, via bots or content farms. This is not in dispute. What was their purpose? What was their goal? Is there any benign explanation? And this kind of thing is not the same as negative attack ads. While those are unseemly and gross, they still have to conform to the rules or face legal consequences. Propaganda on social media can be made up completely, defamatory, and falsely attributed without any consequence. This is not the same as what you might read in the NYT.

I'm pretty sure your last sentence was a typo, but yeah, acting on fear is pretty much bad for everyone. And without FUD, there's no way the walking clown shoes would have been elected in 2016.